In these times of economic uncertainty it becomes more critical to manage our businesses in the most efficient manner possible and COPS is here to assist our member firms in doing just that. COPS provides valuable tools for improving business skills including: draft contracts, estimating spreadsheets, and quality control checklists. Additionally, COPS sponsors seminars at the ACEC Annual and Fall Conferences tailored to meet the needs of the land surveying profession that focus on improving the bottom line of our members. At every COPS sponsored event, there is an opportunity to hear from experts in the field with experience at making profitability a high priority. As you read this version of Field Notes you will undoubtedly see why our membership is growing and find something to help your business improve. Working together to improve the profession is key to our survival.
Ed Garrigan, PLS
Chairman, COPS Steering Committee
Update on COPS Meetings and Sessions
COPS held several meetings and sessions during the ACEC Annual Convention in Washington, D.C. last April. On April 29, the COPS Steering Committee met to address various items of business, including recruitment efforts, educational sessions, legislative matters and development of new business tools. Subsequently, the Steering Committee met on August 2.
At the ACEC Annual Convention COPS hosted an educational session entitled "Making Surveying a Profitable Part of Your Business." The session comprised of Tim Cawood, McKim & Creed; Ken Brown, Leading Edge Land Services, Inc.; Edward F. Garrigan, C.T. Male Associates, PC; and Bill Green, RBF Consulting. The session was very well attended by engineering firm representatives looking to improve their surveying bottom line.
Also during last April's ACEC Convention, a meeting took place between the COPS Steering Committee and Curtis Sumner, Executive Director, National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPS)/American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), and their President Pat Beeler. The meeting was very productive and addressed the promotion of federal legislation beneficial to the surveying industry; coordination of industry dialogue related to machine control guidance; development of COPS business related education sessions for future ACSM conferences; and discussion of concerns regarding comity for licensure and continuing education.
New COPS Officers for 2008-2009
The following are officers and Steering Committee members for 2008-2009:
| Chairman: | Edward F. Garrigan, C.T. Male Associates, P.C. egarrigan@ctmale.com |
| Vice Chairman: | Tim Cawood, McKim & Creed tcawood@mckimcreed.com |
| Secretary: | Michael Yeoman, Perteet, Inc. myeoman@perteet.com |
| Past Chairman: | Thomas A. Kohn, Leading Edge Land Services, Inc. tkohn@leadingedels.com J. Robert Crawford, RBF Consulting bobc@rbf.com A. Frazier Christy, Hatch Mott MacDonald frazier@paragon-eng.net Ken Brown, Leading Edge Land Services, Inc. kbrown@leadingedgels.com Larry D. Graham, Shafer, Kline & Warren, Inc. graham@skw-inc.com |
The COPS Steering Committee is here to serve your needs. Please feel free to contact any of the members at their email addresses shown above, or you can contact COPS Executive Director David Bixby at dbixby@acec.org or call him at (202) 682-4332.
COPS Coming to ACEC Montreal in October
Two great COPS educational sessions will be featured at the ACEC Fall Conference in Montreal, Quebec, on October 19-22, 2008. The sessions take place on Tuesday, October 21, as shown below.
| 2:00—3:15 pm | Records Management in Professional Service – Constructive Destruction, the Silent Handhold on Information Flow Gregory A. Helmer, RBF Consulting The convergence of ultra-fast-paced digital information systems with increased restrictions from litigation and legislation has created records management challenges of daunting proportions. This session presents an overview of the legal issues that, with advancements in information technology, are forcing businesses to understand and modernize records management. |
| 3:45—5:00 pm | Track Your Fleet from Your Office Seat David Jones, McKim & Creed, PA and Jonathan Davis, Vehicle Tracking Systems This session will demonstrate how to use GPS to track vehicles, from the perspective of an end user and a service provider, through the use of Teluware software, a real time Web-based system accessible from anywhere in the world. Get live demonstrations of the software in use and see how this technology can help save time and money, and keep track of your investments. |
ACEC Land Development Coalition
The recently formed ACEC Land Development Coalition will hold its inaugural meeting on Tuesday morning, October 21, during the ACEC Fall Conference in Montreal. Member firms involved in the land development market are invited to participate. The coalition will protect and advance the business interests of design firms in private land development practice. The meeting will help establish the coalition's goals, advocacy objectives, national liaison efforts, and educational programs. Many firms that are currently members of COPS have an interest in participating in this new coalition. For further information contact David Bixby at dbixby@acec.org.
COPS Presentation Accepted for ACSM 2009 Conference
A COPS business-related educational session has been accepted for the ACSM Conference and Exhibition in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 20-23, 2009. "Making Surveying a Profitable Part of Your Business," will feature a panel well seasoned experts, Tim Cawood, McKim & Creed; Ken Brown, Leading Edge Land Services, Inc.; Edward F. Garrigan, C.T. Male Associates, PC; and Bill Green, RBF Consulting. This session will be similar to the one presented during the ACEC Convention last April as reported earlier. The conference is being sponsored by the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), in partnership with the Montana Association of Land Surveyors (MARLS), the Utah Council of Land Surveyors (UCLS) and the Western Federation of Professional Surveyors (WFPS). The event will take place at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
Surveying "The Hill"
Senate Committee Clears ACEC-Backed $38.5 Billion Water Bill, Expands QBS
The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved major water infrastructure legislation this week that significantly boosts investment in drinking water and wastewater projects. At ACEC's urging, the package also includes a new mandate to require certain municipalities to use QBS on federally-funded water projects. The Water Quality Financing Act (S. 3500) authorizes $38.5 billion over five years for projects funded through the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs. The measure includes a number of reforms to the SRF programs, such as extending loans to 30 years and broadening the list of eligible projects to better assist local communities. The bill also gives greater weight to applications from communities developing asset management and long-term financial plans. New grant programs have been added for watershed restoration projects, combined sewer overflows (CSOs), and "critical drinking water infrastructure projects."
The Senate bill requires communities with populations over 10,000 to use QBS on projects funded through the SRF programs. The House-passed bill includes a QBS mandate that would cover all federally-funded projects. ACEC will advocate for the broadest possible application of QBS when the Senate considers this legislation either later this year or in 2009.
COPS Business Practices Subcommittee: More Valuable Products Coming!
Earlier this year, the following new products were issued to COPS members free of charge as another benefit of membership:
- Quality Control Boundary/Survey Map Checklist for a final check of a boundary survey map.
- Kick-Off Meeting Agenda containing proposed discussion items for survey project kick-off meetings
- Topographic Survey Checklist to be used by the Survey Project Manger to document basic survey data, as a detailed requirement list for field crews and as a QC checklist of the final mapping.
- Standard Survey Truck Inventory Checklist to provide inventory control of survey crew equipment.
The COPS Business Practice Subcommittee is currently working on other projects, such as revised COPS scope of services/contracts documents, disclaimer language for survey control and limitation of liability, survey field work record, managers evaluation, and other useful documents and tools. If you are interested participating on this subcommittee please contact either subcommittee chair Mike Yeoman at myeoman@perteet.com, or David Bixby at dbixby@acec.org. The subcommittee's next meeting will take place in Nashville on November 15.
Combined COPS/Small Firm Council Winter Meeting
A combined winter meeting of the Small Firm Council (SFC) and COPS is being planned for Friday and Saturday, Feb 27-28, 2009, in Nashville, Tennessee. A similar joint meeting/program took place in 2002. The preliminary schedule is shown below. A meeting notice and other details on registering will be sent out within the next few months.
| Friday, Feb 27 | |
| 9:00 a.m. | Small Firm Principles Boot Camp |
| Saturday, Feb 28 | |
| 9:00 a.m. | Small Firms CEO Roundtable COPS Steering Committee |
| 12:00 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1 - 2:30 p.m. | COPS/SFC Joint Session |
COPS History
Fourteen years ago, at the request of several survey member firms and state member organizations, ACEC created a special-interest committee, COPS, to serve surveying interests of ACEC members. A steering committee of 6 professional surveyors was formed in 1994 to look at the political, business, and human resources interests of survey firms with ACEC. Early in 1995, COPS was approved and goals were set. In March of 1995, COPS representatives attended a meeting in Washington, D.C., with ACEC, the ACSM and MAPPS to successfully defend the continuation of qualify-based selection of surveying services for procurement by federal agencies. In July of 1995, ACEC announced the availability of COPS membership. In 1995, COPS had 70 member firms. Today COPS comprises 200 member firms and growing.